Ranking The Doctor Who Series Premieres From Worst To Best

2. The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon (Series 6)

First broadcast: Saturday 23rd April 2011/Saturday 30th April 2011 Because nothing quite says "Doctor Who is back with a vengeance!" like killing off the show's protagonist within the first 5 minutes of his long awaited return. Such was the case in Series 6's premiere which made fans thinks again about how well they actually knew their favourite programme. With a new budget that made the majority of the classic show's outputs - and even some of the modern ones - look like homemade movies, the titular Time Lord set its sights on America where Matt Smith's incumbent incarnation, after affirming his presence as the Universe's chief defender in his previous debut series, gathered his amicable associates at the shores of Lake Silencio to witness his untimely demise at the hands of an impossible astronaut. And thus began one of the biggest and most headache inducing mysteries in TV history. First, though, fans had an exhilarating US two-parter to get through and the Stateside shenanigans pushed Doctor Who's boundaries further than ever before as our heroes joined forces with President Richard Nixon himself. It also tally marked the first appearance of the Silence who have since established themselves as one of the most terrifying adversaries in Doctor Who history. That is, if you can remember them!